Descent Into Darkness: A Story Of The Desert
by Audriel Taurelin
Summary: A mythology of sorts, written for the game forums and moved here. The tale of the resident Time Lord who found her Vulcan, and her strength, changing forms and names as she grows and becomes a stalker of the Immortal Night.
1. Chapter 1

The sound of sudden footsteps that were not her own made Romana whirl around, searching for the source. Seeing no one, she quickened her step, hoping to return to the safety of her home before anything untoward happened. As she hurried, she recalled the news stories about the recent brutal attacks, people with their necks ripped open, or the reports of mysterious puddles of blood with no sign of or a trail that would lead to a victim. Stress and worry forced her into a jog, which turned into a blind run as she heard the footsteps again. As she wasn't watching where she was going, she ran straight into what felt like an iron beam, so unyielding it knocked her off balance. Romana scrambled to catch herself, but fell over anyway. Expecting to hit the ground, she yelped as she was caught by two burly arms, but as she started to fight to get free from the shadow, she felt a sharp double pain at her neck and blacked out.

"Hey, wake up."

Romana felt someone poking her, so she opened her eyes to total darkness. She felt a poke again, at which she sat up abruptly

"Calm down, young one, you're not completely changed so you shouldn't move around much."

"Who...who are you?" Romana whispered, wide-eyed.

"My name isn't important right now, what we need is to take care of you so you survive the process. Jerry, since you turned her, you get to nurse her through the final stages. Think you can control yourself now?"

"Of course, V. It's not my fault that bastard Flea put straight Vodka into my glass of blood. She will be safe."

Romana heard a snort of laughter, then shuffling movements, followed by the soft closing of a door. She felt a sleeve fall across her arm, then a warm hand suddenly felt her forehead, making her flinch, and wince as her neck throbbed.

"It's ok, sweetie. You're in safe hands, and I'll help you finish the transformation successfully."

"What are you talking about? What transformation, and who are you?"

"Ok, to answer in order, I'm talking about the transformation you are going through even now. You are changing into a vampire, which was my fault and I apologize, and my name is Jeremiah Cornelius, but I go by Jerry."

Romana giggled slightly before his words sunk in.

"Wait, what?! How was this your fault? What are you?"

"I'm a vampire like you will shortly be," He said, "but if you come with us, we can train you to survive the mortals and become powerful."

"But how did this happen? I remember... running from footsteps, hitting something and then my...neck started to hurt. Ow!" She raised her hand to her neck, feeling two puncture wounds with a surprising lack of blood.

"It's started hun, now it will hurt quite a bit, but I need you to be strong and you will be fine."

"Stay with me, Jerry, please? I'm scared."

"Always sweetie. By the way, I never found out your name before I so precipitously changed your entire life."

She laughed. "Such a novel idea! I'm Romanadvoratrelunder, Romana for short."

"Ah, well it's nice to meet you, Romana. Let's get through this and we'll help you to your new life in the Immortal Night."

Romana nodded, knowing he could feel the movement and breathed in deeply, just as the agony began...


	2. Chapter 2

A soft humming permeated her blood-filled dreams, awakening Romana gently. She grunted slightly as she pushed her sore body up, startling the singer who was seated next to the cot.

"Easy, Romana, you barely survived the process. You've been sleeping for three days."

"Jerry? Where is he?"

"He's sleeping, hun. You had a rough time of it and he's bushed. He stayed up for 48 hours straight, watching over you. "

"Then who are you?"

"I'm Poe, I'm a friend of his."

"And did he turn you too, or did you choose to be changed?"

Poe chuckled, "He can't have changed me, sweetie. I'm a Lycan, I don't think we would be compatible even if he tried"

"Now, if you're feeling good enough, let's get you up and moving before V shows up. She can get irritable if provoked."

Romana grinned at the wink that followed that statement, accepting the helping hand up. "And Heaven forbid anyone irritate the V, yes?"

Poe giggled, stopping quickly when the door opened. "Just listen to her, and you'll be on your way to getting stronger in no time."

"Poe, is she awake yet?

"Yes V, I'm just helping her get up now."

"Good. Jerry's pacing out there, and we've got a bunch of regulars in the chat rooms, so we can introduce her quickly and possibly get others to help her along."

"That's a bit quick, have we had another wave of newbies converted again?"

Violet sighed, "Yes. I keep telling Flea to stop spiking people's drinks, but the Aussie is having too much fun to listen."

The two women looked at Romana as she bowed to V, teetering slightly. "Lady Romana, at your service, ma'am"

V rolled her eyes as she helped her steady. "Poe, will you get the door and we'll get this sot settled into the Fledgling camp for now. She can meet the chat regulars tomorrow. Go get someone to watch stay in her tent tonight, and hopefully she won't appear drunk in the morning."

V hoisted the spaced out vampire onto her back and jogged along to the camp, dodging people and shooting glares at any misbehaving noobs. Arriving at the obviously new tent marked "Romana", she laid the girl onto the bed, waited outside impatiently, wanting to get back to her husband. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Poe returning with another girl in tow, who once in sight was revealed to be Poe's sister, Rachel.

"Rachel, you'll be spending the night here. Watch over this newbie, and make sure none of the trolls come near."

Rachel gave a saucy salute and vanished inside with her sleeping bag. V and Poe could hear quiet squeals as Rach spied the cute girl, and they smiled at each other before vanishing into the night.


	3. Chapter 3

Romana woke again to the sound of humming, albeit a totally different genre than before, but still soothing, causing her to wake with a smile.

An unfamiliar girl was laying on a sleeping bag, tying her shoes as she sang, not noticing the occupant of the cot was awake and watching.

Romana grinned evilly, plotting ways to surprise the other when a sudden violent sneeze came and rocked her world, bringing unexpected pain as her lips met her new fangs. She heard a curse, then quiet laughter before a gentle hand moved her own hands to press a bandage to the slightly bleeding lip.

"What a way to wake up, eh Ro?" Rachel said, grinning as she got a grumble in response. "C'mon sleepyhead, chat's full and we've gotta get you cleaned up before we throw you to the wolves, I mean mods."

Romana burrowed back into her blankets, yelping when Rachel yanked them off, dumping her onto the sleeping bag covered ground.

"Hun, I don't have much patience, and I'd rather poke you around than get a pummeling from V. Get up and we'll get ready. I'm to protect you from the perverts as well as the trolls, although trolls might be easier, knowing who's waiting for us."

Romana grumbled as she was pulled up and literally poked towards a shower, quickly smiling when she saw her favorite dress folded on a table nearby. Rachel grinned, waiting outside for her charge, brushing her own hair as she lurked. Eyeing the newly cleaned vampire, Rachel set the brush down and gestured to be followed.

Romana stuck close to Rachel, holding onto her arm as they weaved through the camp, headed towards a building bearing a sign that said Dark Night Chat.


	4. Chapter 4

Rachel opened the door and walked in, wincing as usual at the sheer amount of green in the first room. She grinned and nodded to her friends as everyone turned around to look at the new people walking through. She slowed down slightly as she felt the girl press into her, trying to hide. Once she'd gotten into the middle of the room, she cleared her throat and whistled. Ignoring the scowls coming from a couple of the women, she started intros.

"Yeah yeah, grouch all you want, Wills, but might as well get this over with. I don't want to ignore V's orders. This is Jerr's newbie, Romana. Just woke up so don't terrify her too much. Roro, on the left we've got the naughty mod Girls; Willow, Celine, Kate, Jenn, and DA. On your right, we have the sexy mod Guys; Arian, J, Temo, the General, and Spock." Rach smirked as she saw Romana's eyes widen and lock onto Spock, before she recovered and curtsied.

"H-hello."


	5. Chapter 5

Romana could feel her heart beat faster as she first laid eyes on the man who would eventually become her beloved husband. She could feel Rachel's smirk from behind her, reminding her of her manners and causing her to curtsey. She blushed under the glares of annoyance from a couple of the women and started to hide behind Rachel again, but before she could, she was dragged off into the next room. She managed to catch up to Rachel, only to get knocked over by three blurs, all diving for Rachel behind her back in ambush. Romana winced, waiting for the cry of pain, only to hear raucous laughs and giggles coming from the snuggle pile in front of her. She grinned at the flailing limbs and tickling, struggling to resist diving in and helping.

After the ruckus ceased, the previous blurs now revealed to be two women and a man, helped Rachel stand up only to hug her tight, at which point Romana came forward to stand behind Rachel again. Three pairs of eyes focused immediately on her, making her blush slightly.

"Rachy, who's this?"

"This is Romana, Jerry's newest. Quit glaring at her, Deadleg, we don't want to scare her off."

Deadpool leaned back, smirking. "Doesn't look like much, does she? Bit puny looking."

Rachel smacked his arm, "Be nice! She's only 1 day old, and we don't want her turning into a troll because no one taught her any better."

Poe waved, coming forward to hug Romana. "Hi hun. How're you feeling?"

Romana grinned, hugging the familiar friend. "I'm better! That sleep did me good, even if the looks the mods gave me didn't."

Poe grimaced, "Yeah, the mods are having a crappy day. Thanks to Flea, there's been an influx of noobs and they've been running the mods ragged, so they are grouchy."

"So I've heard. I wish I could help, but I'm afraid I don't know much about anything yet."

The other female stepped forward, offering a hug. "Well, I believe I can help you with that, if I can pry you away from Rach for a while. I'm Bitey Collins."

"Hi Bitey. How long have you known Rachel?"

"For a day. I just started 2 days ago. My big sister is amazing!"

"Ooh, sister? I wish she was my sister too! She's cool."

Rachel picked Romana up from the back, swinging the giggling vampire around.

"Well little newbie, if the head of the family says yes, we'll adopt you and make you into an evil little Collins. Sound good?"

The girl nodded, beaming from ear to ear.

The women surrounded the newbie, pulling her through another door marked The Moonlit Pub, grinning as they spotted a particular vampire in the middle of the room.

"Momma!"

The woman turned around quickly, catching all four of her children in a huge hug, laughing. "Hello you all!"

Rachel wiggled out of her mother's embrace, running over to drag Romana forwards.

"Momma, this is Romana. RoRo, this is our mother, Nessy."

Romana was engulfed in a huge hug before she could even start to curtsey, making her smile and snuggle into the vampire's arms.

Nessy beamed and released her, "I see you've attached yourself to my children already. Where is your mother, little one?"

"I don't have one. I just woke up yesterday. Your children have been so nice to me, even though I'm a newbie."

Nessy looked around at her children, noting the excitement in the girls' eyes and smirked knowingly at the apparent indifference of her son, knowing he really did care.

"Well how would you like a mother and 3 crazy siblings?" Nessy grinned at the weak protests of "I'm not crazy!", but kept watching Romana's face as she beamed and burst into happy tears.

Romana was immediately surrounded by her sisters, fussing over her and hugging her tight, with Deadpool standing back wearing a wide enough smirk to be seen through his mask.

Nessy peeled her daughters away and hugged Romana, "Welcome to the family, baby girl. Our last name is Collins should you wish to use it."

Romana grinned and started dancing around and with her new family, no longer alone in the dark world of Immortals.


	6. Chapter 6

Romana giggled as her sisters pulled her into the main chat room a few days later. She gasped as she saw the huge room full of people, causing her to hide behind her siblings. Rachel and Poe laughed, pulling her in front again between them, holding her hands. Romana looked behind, smiling at the sight of Bitey behind her, keeping watch for trolls.

The newbie flinched slightly as her sisters were hailed by many people, all coming over and eyeing her. Romana couldn't keep the names straight as she was introduced to men and women alike from all over the world. Names like King Jester Vagabond, Jeremiah Cornelius, Some Chick, and some loon named Wookie. After the whirlwind ceased, the girls retreated to a corner to let the youngest recover.

"How am I ever going to remember them all, Poesy! There's so many!"

Poe smiled and pointed to a large sign on the wall, which bore the names of everyone inside, showing logging in and logging out as people came and went, laughing and shouting greetings.

The sisters were soon mobbed by friends, causing Romana to lurk behind the others, watching, listening, and blushing fiercely at all the dirty jokes being thrown around.

A taller man whom Romana remembered as King walked up to her and leaned against the wall, watching her blush. Ro looked up at him, slightly afraid but still smiled at him, her smile widening as he burst into laughter.

"She'll do well I think, Rachel." Kingy smirked. "A bit afraid now, and severely prudish judging by how pink she is, but I see a steady fire in her eyes. You take care of her and she'll go far."

King ruffled Romana's hair, laughing at her scowl as she scurried behind her sisters. She narrowed her eyes as she watched him flirt with her sisters some more before wandering off to cause more trouble. She was just relaxing again when a deep voice sounded from right behind her.

"Hey Romanadvoratrelundar, remember me?"

She spun around and tackled the speaker, squealing "Jerry!", attracting the attention of her sisters.

Jerry laughed, swinging the young girl around and hugged her tight.

"Jerry, how are you feeling? Did you finally kick Flea's butt? Please tell me you haven't touched any booze since then…"

"Woah, woah, calm down, Romana. First of all, I'm feeling fine. Got lots of rest in the recovery room. Second, yes, I kicked Flea's butt… he's still in recovery and I did that two days ago. Third, no, I haven't been drinking although now that Flea is out of commission, I can."

Romana grinned and hugged her Maker tight, praising the Internet gods that Jerr had been the one to change her, for she would never have anyone else. She then turned to her sisters, beaming back at Poe as she turned to Bitey.

"This is my "Uncle" Jerr, sis. Due to Flea's doofus-ness, Jerr turned me… and I'm so glad he did so I could meet you all!"


	7. Chapter 7

For the next 67 days, Romana learned, trained, and made friends. Finally coming out of her shell, she quickly became desensitized to the dirty jokes floating around the Lounge all the time and eventually lost her reputation of "super prude". Over the weeks, she married and divorced several times... 5 times in fact.

After all the drama and virtual heartbreak, she remained single, pestering her friends and teasing the mods, generally getting to know people and adopting her children. Word has it that long ago, if you were alone and needed a mother, Lady Romana would adopt anyone, resulting in the eventual 20 children all calling her "Mom!"

Near her 100 day anniversary, Romana snuck into chat, promptly getting pounced by several children and her sisters, who dragged her over to the bulletin board, chattering about a war that was coming up. She scanned the paper, grinning wider from excitement with each line. An admin war… that sounded very fun! Even though she was only level 7, she thought she was very good and would help win this battle. After swearing fighting oaths to Nikita, which probably annoyed the admin, Romana took classes as fast as she could, saving up for better weapons. Needless to say when the war finally started, Ro was trampled in the dust and her team lost to Kanine's Hoard. Humiliated, she turned to higher level players to help, getting advice and making even more friends.

Kate, Charon, and Thomas Dragonrider always said the same thing: "Save up money and power train… a lot."

So she did.


	8. Chapter 8

Still afraid of most of the mods, Romana was seen most often hanging around one particular one… Ambassador Spock. Spock and Romana were like two peas in a pod, if you like clichés. So geeky and weird, everyone thought they were perfect for each other. So follows their love story 3

Romana flopped down next to Spock, watching him eye the noobs in the corner.

"They been much trouble tonight, Spockers?"

The furry mod glanced at her, "Meh, not yet, but I've been eavesdropping on their conversations and they're starting to mutter about my presence in here. You sure you wanna be here next to me?"

"Of course! Every Ambassador needs an Aide, moreso one from Vulcan. How come you haven't gotten one yet? I've known you for ages now and no girl has been under "Married" on your profile."

Spock rolled his eyes, smirking faintly, "You girls have been bugging me about that for months now. Is it really that urgent?"

The female vampire snickered, "Yes, because we can't stand all the girls mooning over you, and if you were married, you might not get girls prostrating themselves all over you nearly as much… possibly."

He rolled his eyes, "Do you really want to know why I fly solo? Really honestly?"

Romana nodded, watching his face for reactions.

"It's because I've never found a girl who's as geeky as me and also gladly willing to change her name to match mine."

She nodded, looking around as she leaned into him.

"Well, I would."

He blinked a few times, smiling slightly at her before standing up, helping her sit up again before he strode out of the room.

She watched his retreating back, confused as to what she said to offend. Romana had no inkling as to what would happen next, nor how it would change her life, both real and in game.


	9. Chapter 9

Romana wandered into the lounge a couple of days later, waving and hugging her friends as she made her way towards the mod corner, intending to corner Spock. Giggling and gently pushing her way through, she beamed as she spotted his pointy ears through the crowd. As she reached him, she hailed him and plopped down next to him, yawning.

"How goes, you?"

The Vulcan looked at her, "It goes. Not much to do right now with Willow on her sporking rampage. You?"

"Eh, been busy. I would have been in an hour ago, but the lag monster wouldn't settle for just one sacrifice."

Spock snorted, "Yeah, Nikita or V are prodding at the programming today. The whole game is slow."

A comfortable silence fell in their corner as they sat and watched the room. After a few minutes, Romana turned and watched him, humming quietly. He felt her gaze and turned.

"What?"

Romana blushed, "Nothing. I'm just trying to figure out why you left suddenly the other day. Did I offend or insult you in any way, because if I did I'm sorry, and - mfph!"

He'd put his finger on her lips to stop her babbling.

"No, you didn't. I just needed to get something… Actually, I need to ask you a question, Time Lord."

Romana grinned at his reference and nodded, "What's up, Vulcan?"

He stood up and got down on one knee in front of her, making her gasp.

He smirked and took a deep breath, "There's not many girls like you around here… geeky, smart, doesn't throw yourself all over people, have known me long enough and known me for me, and are willing to match my name. Will you be the Saavik to my Spock, and whatever other names we change to? This will also keep the girls off like you wanted," He ended with a grin, sticking his tongue out.

Romana giggled and hugged him tight. "Let's keep those noobs off each other and take this game by geeky storm! I say yes, Ambassador!"

He put the ring on her finger and kissed her quickly, trying to keep his Vulcan reputation.

Romana giggled, although quickly putting on a stoic mask as she went to do research and change her name. She could already feel one heart disappear, her other heart move southwards, and her ears start to form a point. While she was a Trekkie already, Saavik was not a closely known character yet. She intended to fix that. From that day on, the IN duo "Spock and Saavik" was born, always matching and almost always in character with their names.

You got a problem with that?


	10. Chapter 10

Saavik was curled up in chat surrounded by several children when her husband snuck into chat and surprised her. She jumped up and hugged him quickly.

"Spock! I thought you were busy with university!"

He smiled, hugging her tight and kissing her thoroughly before pulling away and resuming his stoicism. He looked around at all the children around them who gazed back at him in curiosity. The Vulcan leaned down and whispered into his wife's ear, "Aduna, who are these children?"

Saavik looked around and smiled, "These are my children, Adun. I've adopted them all at one time or another since I started. The lonesome ones, the hurt ones, the ones who need help; You know me, I can't leave them to suffer."

Spock nodded, "You do realize, I will not be claiming any of these children, yes?"

She looked up at him, startled and a little bit sad.

"Why not, Adun? They're my children, shouldn't they have a father?"

The male shook his head, "I'm not ready for children yet. In real life, or in game. They can find someone else to be their paternal influence."

Saavik breathed deeply, fighting back her tears and nodding, before turning her back on her husband and hugging the closest child. She smiled wetly as the rest of her children came into the room and cuddled around her, throwing evil looks at her husband as they formed a barrier of love.

Spock watched them for a minute before turning to check into the main room of chat and start his duties for a few hours before bedtime.


	11. Chapter 11

Saavik tromped through the doors into the Dark Lounge, sweaty but happy as she read the chat lists and spotted her husband's name among the rest. Saluting her friends, modly or not, on her way past, she marched past the other rooms until she reached the Role Play Room. Pulling the door open, she immediately spotted her husband in the middle of the room, almost literally covered in girls. Clenching her empty fist and adjusting her grip on the weapon in the other hand, she saw green, growling slightly. She stalked over to the group, noticing a look of desperation on her Adun's face as he tried to keep the girls off. She watched her husband look up at the sound of her growling and lose all the color in his face as she came closer. None of the girls noticed her approach until she started pulling them off by the hair and clothes, cursing in three languages and screeching in five. With her husband uncovered, she stood in front of him with her Lirpa, spinning it into a whirl of blade and club. She eyed the girls surrounding them, as they watched her warily, intent on getting back to Spock. She yelled as one of them attempted to get to him, bashing her upside the head with the club end-

"KROYKA!"

Saavik stumbled to a halt, breathing heavily and looking murderous.

Spock stood up and placed a hand on her shoulder, his face stony while pride and admiration shone in his eyes.

"Aduna, you must calm yourself. Breathe deeply and remember the teachings of Surak."

She glared around her and drew herself tall and proud, aiming the blade of her weapon at the gaggle of girls in around the downed girl.

"You ever touch my husband again, you _tviokhs_, and you shall not achieve a

_manil arek_!"

She sat down next to her husband, tying her hair back and wiping the sweat away.

Spock looked at her, wrinkling his nose slightly.

"What died around you, t'hyla?"

She snorted, putting her stoic façade back up.

"Nothing, Adun, I just did some speed and attack training. Did pretty well too."

She smiled as her husband burst out laughing, shaking his head.

"No one could have ever suspected you of this, Aduna. You have surprised me."

Saavik beamed and bowed from her seated position, stretching before standing up again. She turned and kissed her husband's cheek.

"Time to shower and go to school, Adun. Will you be on long?"

He shook his head, "Nah, I'm about to go to bed. Have a fun class!"

She rolled her eyes, blew a kiss, and sauntered out of the room, leaving a roll of bandages near the unconscious girl. The crowds parted, scared of any reactions on her part, causing her to smirk internally at her apparent new reputation. Whispers followed her to the lounge as she peeked in to check on her friends, before logging out of the chat and going back to her life.


End file.
